Surviving Patorum

Chapter 6

The sleek black pistol sits at the bottom of the drawer. It has a blue, fluorescent light stretching from where the bullet comes out of the gun, down the barrel, to the magazine. The weapon's handle is thick and coated with a gripping material that makes it easier to hold. The side of the gun has the safety button on it, and I can see from where I'm standing that it's turned on.

Paige stares at the gun with wide eyes. Her hand hovers over the computer keyboard, her fingers twitching. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, and her shaky breath is the loudest thing in the room. Her eyes peel away from the gun and meet mine.

I understand being nervous about seeing the gun, but why is Paige so terrified? Mr. Smith is the founder of the compound, so there's a good chance he would have one for safety. There's a target on his back, and Paige should know this.

"Did you know about this?" I ask, pointing to the gun.

"No," Her eyes flick down, looking at it nervously. "My father and I talked about this before, and he told me that guns are for the guards."

"It makes sense that he has one."

Paige takes a deep breath. "I suppose. I just don't like that he lied to me."

"It was probably for your protection."

"What is he protecting me from? I can only think that he doesn't want me to use the gun myself. We're the only other people that know it's here. If an intruder got in, despite the fingerprint ID, they wouldn't know where to look."

"I guess you're right. Do you know if your father keeps a gun on him?"

"He shouldn't, I mean, he told me he didn't. I'm starting to think otherwise." She says.

"Who would want to harm you?" I ask, my eyebrows raising.

"That's a great question. Maybe the other higher-ranked people here would probably use me as collateral to get what they want. If there was a gun in here, wouldn't you think he'd want me to know where it was?"

She's right. This isn't making sense. With Mr. Smith not wanting to investigate the knock and now the gun, he has to be hiding something.

I glace down at the gun again and notice something hidden underneath it. I slide the gun over with my forefinger to reveal a clear keycard. It has a small green microchip embedded into its left side. And on the right is the number 32 printed in big, bold, black lettering.

"A key," I say as I grab it out of the drawer.

I hold it up so Paige can see it. "Do you know what this is for?"

"No clue." She says while looking through the computer again.

"Thirty-two," I say. "It's not a key to any of the gates. This has to be for a different door."

"Hey, look at this." Paige motions for me to come over to the computer, and I learn over her to see the mouse hovering over a file named Blueprints.

"I bet we could find this mysterious room in this file." She says.

Paige clicks through the different files. The blueprints are extensive and hard to read. The main areas we look at are the career sights, like the labs, cultivation, mechanical, and the presidential control room where Mr. Smith does most of his work. But there's no room 32.

"It's no use," Paige grunts in frustration. "We're never going to find the secret room that this key goes to."

"Wait," I say as I stare at the computer screen. "What's that?" I point to grayed-out area under the Hub. It's not labeled a room, but it looks like one on the blueprint. It seems like some sort of basement or bottom level.